Charities
- SSAFA – Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association
- Army Benevolent Fund
- RAF Benevolent Fund
- Combat Stress
About our charitable contributions
MP Don Touhig and pupils at Bryn Primary school celebrate their new computer suite, supported by General Dynamics UK.
In Wales, we have contributed greatly to the provision of IT suites in several local schools and have provided a minibus to the local school in Oakdale. In both Hastings and Oakdale, we provide assistance to Drug Awareness schemes for children, paying for the printing and distribution of booklets in schools. Both our Wales facility and Hastings run a Charity Committee to discuss how best to distribute funds. Charities as diverse as the RNLI, Conquest Hospital League of Friends, Students for Kids International Projects, and the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths have benefitted from donations from General Dynamics UK.
Dr Sandy Wilson hands the keys to Don Touhig, MP for Islwyn. General Dynamics UK donated the minibus to Oakdale Comprehensive school.
In addition to charitable foundations General Dynamics UK also assists local sports clubs in Hastings and Wales. We are major sponsors of the Newbridge Rugby Club, as well as the Crumlin Cricket Club and Hastings Priory Cricket Club. Members of the company are always welcome to attend games and matches at these clubs, all of whom encourage and teach local children to play sport.
For the last three years General Dynamics UK has also been a major sponsor of the Hastings Half Marathon event, not only sponsoring the event itself but also donating a sum of money for the General Dynamics UK Charity Team Awards. A large number of General Dynamics UK staff participate in the event every year running the gruelling 13 mile course to raise money for local charities, and in 2007 the company contributed a further 25% of the money raised by the General Dynamics UK business team. The company will continue to sponsor the Half Marathon in 2008 and encourages as many members of staff to participate as possible.
General Dynamics UK Sponsors Crumlin Cricket Club
For our customer, we sponsor RAF Families’ days, sports teams, overseas tours by military sports teams and adventurous pursuits which are often beyond the reach of soldiers, sailors and airmen and are not fully funded by the MOD.
We believe that our judicious mixture of supporting our locale and our customer helps to show our responsibility to the communities in which we live and work. Our donations to schools and children’s charities in particular give us great pleasure and we hope that by such investment in the future, we will continue to give life to the community. Back to top...
Charitable activities in Wales
In February 2008, members of General Dynamics UK’s Welsh Golf Society presented a cheque for £300 to Cancercareline, a charity based in Blackwood, South Wales, which offers support and care to those afflicted by cancer. The cheque was raised by society members by donating £2 for every round of golf which was played over the course of the year. This year, they hope to raise even more money for the Welsh Air Ambulance charity.
Each year, General Dynamics UK employees based in South Wales hold a charity raffle at Christmas, to help raise funds for a nominated local charity. For 2007, the nominated charity was the Macmillan unit at Oakdale Hospital. A cheque for £2,653 was presented to the unit, which was used to fund a special profile bed, which is used to make people more comfortable when they are receiving palliative care.
Back to top...Charitable activities in Hastings
Filsham Valley School received a contribution towards their school presentation folder, a commitment taken last year for two years.
As a main sponsor to the Hastings Half Marathon we displayed our company banners at the Start/Finish line and along the route and all entrants displayed our logo on their running number. Several members of staff ran the half marathon in support of different charities, but in particular ‘Avanti’, the local brain injury unit where a member of staff receives on-going care.
Graphics support was been given to ‘Time to Dance’, a local dance festival that took place early in March featuring 37 schools local to Hastings and St Leonards. We designed the programme and paid for the printing costs.
Hastings & Rother YMCA work with local children and young people running many projects and activities. They are currently seeking help with the equipping of a new community / internet / training café on their premises. The company has made a donation towards these costs.
A small donation was made to the Grade II listed ‘Church in the Wood’ located in St Leonards. This well-regarded and much loved building is in urgent need of repair and an application to English Heritage is being considered, but in the meantime local companies and organisations are helping to provide funds for immediate works.
The annual Hastings event ‘Beatles Day’ now in its ninth year of raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, received a donation from the company. The 10 hour event, featuring 55 individual acts, took place on Sunday 6th April.
Back to top...Charitable activities in Gloucestershire
General Dynamics UK employees presenting a cheque to the Mayor of Tewkesbury in aid of the Gloucestershire Relief Fund.
In December 2007, General Dynamics UK presented a cheque for £3,521 to aid the Gloucestershire Relief Fund with monies kindly donated by General Dynamics UK employees across the UK plus £2,000 from the Company’s Charity Committee. More than 150 employees working at Ashchurch and Pershore were affected by the floods during the year, but despite this, the Ashchurch team successfully continued to deliver Bowman converted vehicles to the customer.
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